A GUIDE TO USING ICT IN MUSIC EDUCATION BY DAVID ASHWORTH

Electrifying Music

JANUARY 2007

SHAPING MUSIC EDUCATION AN EMERGING VISION

Publications Musical Futures - an emerging vision - introductory pamphlet (available on website) Transforming Musical Leadership - a pamphlet and DVD (October 2005, available on website) Personalising Musical Learning pamphlet, teachers pack, CD and DVD (April 2006, available on website) Supporting Young Musicians & Coordinating Musical Pathways a pamphlet (September 2006, available on website) Redefining Music Training a pamphlet (November 2006, avaliable on website) Electrifying Music this pamphlet (January 2007) All publications are downloadable from the Musical Futures website: www.musicalfutures.org.uk In addition, we will be working with our partners to produce a final publication in January 2007. Stay in touch We hope to widen the dialogue with policy makers and music practitioners. If you have specific responses to any of the issues raised in this pamphlet or are engaged in work which might inform the subsequent pamphlet, please contact us at feedback@musicalfutures.org.uk You can also sign up for our regular e-newsletters, receive further copies of the publications or follow the Musical Futures project by visiting our website - www.musicalfutures.org.uk

This pamphlet sets out to examine the issues surrounding using technology effectively in the teaching and learning of music. It addresses the challenges that using ICT poses, explores current good practice, and surveys potential sources of support for music teachers.

Contents

Introduction

Section 1: A Little Help From My Friends Section 2: Another Time, Another Place Section 3: Bring It On Home To Me Section 4: Come Together Conclusion

Title: Electrifying Music Author: David Ashworth Aim: To examine the issues surrounding using technology effectively in the teaching and learning of music Publication: The Paul Hamlyn Foundation January 2007 The Paul Hamlyn Foundation (see Open Access statement) ISBN No: 1-905500-14-9 Design: Igloo Photo Credits: David Ashworth, Clare Biggs, Paul Dale, Michael Walter/Troika photos, Musical Futures project staff Musical Futures is a Paul Hamlyn Foundation Special Project

department for

education and skills

The Paul Hamlyn Foundation is a company limited by guarantee (No. 5042279) and a registered charity (No. 1102927). Its primary concern is to address issues of inequality and disadvantage, particularly in relation to young people, through the arts, learning and education.

Introduction and Acknowledgements

The Paul Hamlyn Foundations Musical Futures project seeks to devise (in partnership with Youth Music and the DfES Innovation Unit) new and imaginative ways of engaging young people in music activities for all 11-19 year-olds. Thanks are due to: The Musical Futures Partners and Pathfinders;

The Musical Futures Steering and Advisory groups for their comments and advice on the project.

The author wishes to thank all of the teachers who gave their time and shared their experiences, and David Price, Rgis Cochefert and Abigail DAmore for their help in preparing this publication.

The Musical Futures project is dedicated to the memory of Jane Attenborough, who died tragically in the Asian Tsunami. Jane was the arts manager at The Paul Hamlyn Foundation who, along with the project Chair, Lord Moser, gave shape to the trustees original aspirations. Without her, there would have been no project.

Open access. Some rights reserved. As the publisher of this work, The Paul Hamlyn Foundation has an open access policy which enables anyone to access our content electronically without charge. We want to encourage the circulation of our work as widely as possible without affecting the ownership of the copyright, which remains with the copyright holder. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs Licence. The following are some of the conditions imposed by the licence: Musical Futures and the author is credited; The Musical Futures website address (www.musicalfutures.org.uk) is published together with a copy of this policy statement in a prominent position; The text is not altered and is used in full (the use of extracts under existing fair usage rights is not affected by this condition); The work is not resold; A copy of the work or link to its use online is sent to The Paul Hamlyn Foundation for our archive. (To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nd/2.5/)

MUSICAL FUTURES ADVISERS: Norinne Betjemann Arts Council England Colin Brackley-Jones Federation of Music Services

Valerie Hannon DfES Innovation Unit *David Hargreaves Project Consultant Marc Jaffrey Music Manifesto Richard Jones Specialist Schools and Academies Trust Nicholas Kenyon BBC Proms Margaret Martin-Griffiths * Lord Moser Chairman, Musical Futures Angela Overington DfES David Price Project Leader, Musical Futures Philippa Staff DCMS David Sulkin Youth Music
* Denotes Steering Group Member

* Rgis Cochefert Programme Manager, PHF * Christina Coker Youth Music Ben Cole Youth Music * Robert Dufton Director, PHF Richard Hallam Oxfordshire Music Service *Jane Hamlyn Chair, PHF

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INTRODUCTION

When given sustained opportunities for exploring and using music technologies, pupils acquire and develop skills, often using them with individuality and flair. Too often, though, they are given insufficient time, or tasks are inappropriate to gain more than a superficial experience of the capacity of the resources and applications. Opportunities to involve pupils in the same techniques and processes that are used by the music professions are therefore lost, as is their understanding of contemporary music making. Their experience of curriculum music in these cases is detached and irrelevant when compared with their experience of music beyond the classroom. 1

to considerations of learning beyond the school. Intranets, emailing and USB/MP3 players enable students to access the sounds they are working with wherever and whenever they want. Digital learning materials offer students flexibility as they can be accessed for study at any time, enabling them to be more independent in their learning. This means that lessons, courses and activities can be tailored to the needs and capabilities of the individual students. ICT does not necessarily mean students always working on their own. Technologies can offer scope for collaboration and integration with other subjects and artforms.

When computers were first introduced into music departments, they generated a considerable degree of excitement as teachers could see the potential for using ICT in their teaching. Yet, affordable computers powerful enough to realise some of this potential have only been available relatively recently. Computers now have the stability, power and available software to allow young people to work with digital sound in new ways.

There are many inspiring examples of school music departments using ICT in their teaching and learning. Students often use ICT as an effective aid to their learning as well as to create and make music of the highest quality. We aim to celebrate some of this work and to provide signposts for further investigation and innovation.

Digital learning materials offer students flexibility as they can be accessed for study at any time, enabling them to be more independent in their learning

Having the technology is only the starting point, however. In this pamphlet, we cover the issues teachers should consider in order to harness technology effectively in the teaching and learning of music. We provide suggestions for addressing the challenges that using ICT poses, showcase examples of good practice of ICT in music departments, and survey potential sources of ICT support for music teachers. Using ICT has inevitable implications for teaching space and how that space is used. Laptop computers and wireless technology can provide teachers and students with the flexibility and mobility they need for creative music making. This, in turn, leads 2
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Music in Secondary Schools, Ofsted HMI 2328, 2005.

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SECTION ONE:

A Little Help From My Friends Many music teachers are reluctant to use ICT extensively in their teaching. It may be for a number of reasons: lack of confidence in their own ICT capabilities; fear that their students know more than they do; lack of awareness of the potential benefits of using ICT; concerns that technology-based music may take over from more traditional approaches; and insufficient funding for equipment and technical support. Or that the pressures of having to deliver a broader music curriculum, and the ever-increasing assessment and reporting demands, mean that there is simply not enough time to address ICT issues effectively. Notwithstanding the above, there is now more support than ever for teachers from a number of sources. We suggest and explore the following four principal ways in which music teachers may plan to increase their ICT confidence and capability: Peer-to-peer support; Expertise of external providers; Expertise of students; Web-based support.

Case study#1: NCSL Network South Cumbria Learning Innovation Network schools work together in the urban centre of Barrow-in-Furness. The schools wanted to pool their resources and knowledge to organise Super Learning Days planned for a particular year group by pairs of teachers from across the network. Teachers spend a day teaching within another school, suspending the normal timetable, such as on Year 8s Starship Enterprise learning day.

The impact has been felt by all involved. One teacher explained: We had never worked in another school and at first it was daunting for some of us. But by engaging together in an activity which had a clear focus, a culture of trust and collaboration developed. One teacher recognised that working together was more than just an opportunity, and working together became a need. Another said: when we realised we had something special to work on and we started to work in each other's schools that was when we started to see each other differently. Before this, competition had produced quite hostile cultures, but these have been broken down easily.

By engaging together in an activity which had a clear focus, a culture of trust and collaboration developed

Peer-to-Peer Support Music teachers who lack confidence with ICT often find that peer to peer support is the most useful way to address the challenges. Some schools have been successful in promoting this type of networking. According to Ofsted, teachers in these schools: Know the professional support and development they need and negotiate it using local networks, information from websites and membership of national organisations.2

Through this network, teachers developed an awareness of what their peers were doing and could share and foster good practice. More information about the Learning Exchange Online is available at www.nlcexchange.org.uk. The National Association of Music Educators (NAME)3 has been promoting a series of regional conferences where teachers can learn from other local teachers on a wide range of music and ICT applications. These conferences highlight expertise in a region and explore ways in which teachers can access ongoing ICT support in their area.

A number of national organisations support and encourage the formation of local network learning groups, for example the General Teaching Council (GTC) and National College for School Leadership (NCSL).

The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT) Lead Practitioner programme also has the objective of teachers forming networks, sharing good practice and offering
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2 Ofsted, 2005. www.name.org.uk

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support by teachers for teachers4. Lead practitioners are innovative teachers who share their good practice and who work creatively to support and disseminate innovative teaching and learning strategies across the Trusts networks. Their work includes building regional networks, authoring case studies, publications and resources, leading professional development workshops and supporting/mentoring.

External Providers Many schools find it difficult to recruit qualified staff, especially those with skills and confidence in working with music technology. Music became a shortage/priority subject on the Graduate Training Programme (GTP) from September 2006. It is therefore imperative to look at ways of bringing more external providers into the classroom. The support structures provided by LEAs and Music Services are often crucial in providing expertise, especially where there is a strategic support plan in place. For example, Somerset Music Service offers teachers and pupils music technology workshops and group tuition; training for teachers in music technology and opportunities to shadow ICTconfident practitioners among other things. Classroom teachers in Somerset are able to choose support that best suits their requirements. Many LEAs are now starting to develop similar support provision.5

Informal networking opportunities are also possible. For example, many schools within a Local Education Authority (LEA) have shared schedules of training days. Music teachers from different schools could consider using some of this time to establish their own network for sharing and discussing good practice.

Musical Futures Nottingham works using a partnership approach. Musical Futures music leaders and PGCE trainees are brought into schools to deliver the music curriculum to a whole year group in Year 8, over one year. These ICT-confident practitioners work with teachers in helping the pupils to create their own home pages on the Musical Futures website. They go on to create music using computers and upload the results onto the website.

One of the key elements of the Excellence in Cities (EiC) programme is the establishment of a network of school-based City Learning Centres (CLCs). There are over 100 CLCs operating in EiC areas across the country.6 These provide state-of-the art ICT-based learning opportunities for the pupils at the host school, for teachers and pupils in a network of surrounding schools and for the wider community. Teachers can learn valuable lessons about how to set up and organise ICT provision in their schools by initially working in their local CLC. Finally, many Further Education and Higher Education institutions run music technology courses where their students may have the opportunity to have placements in schools as specialist teaching assistants. These are only a few examples of the increasing number of external providers that are available and that could form useful relationships and partnerships with schools.

Lead practitioners are innovative teachers who share their good practice and who work creatively to support and disseminate innovative teaching and learning strategies

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Expertise of Students Increasing numbers of young people in schools have skills and confidence in ICT, and schools could explore ways of mobilising this often significant resource. Young people live in a digital world where the norm is blogging, podcasting, peer-to-peer file sharing, downloading media, capturing sounds and images, emailing, chatrooms, texting and videomessaging. Most of them have ready access to the technology required for these activities, such as computers, mobile phones and MP3 players.
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www.specialistschools.org.uk /practitioners 5 www.six.somerset.gov.uk/ somersetmusic/default.asp www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/sie/eic/clc/

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For many years, students have had access to home computers outside the control of the school system and, more importantly, outside the dynamic of its internal mechanisms. They use computers in the way that they want, rather than in the way that an organisation might dictate. For instance, many young people do not like to be shown how to use a software package or work through a manual they would rather work it out for themselves, using an intuitive, trial-and-error approach. Many students develop high levels of expertise and use computers in complex, sophisticated ways. As Papert states, as a result, they: Are beginning to produce a pressure on the school from within, a kind of subversive force coming into the system, not only demanding change but, most important, offering to help in that change.7 Given this situation, it seems sensible to consider the opportunities this affords and how we can involve students in teaching as well as learning. The advantages of using students as peer mentors have been noted in the classroom and beyond. Young people generally respond well to being taught by their peers and, for those students doing the teaching, there are the potential rewards of increased self-esteem and a greater awareness of the teaching and learning process. The evaluation report on the DfESfunded Study Support Summer Schools noted that: About half the schemes employed pupil mentors, who made a valuable contribution. Pupil mentors were good role models for participants and provided excellent support for the work of main staff.8

Web-Based Support There are occasions when a more impersonal source of support is appropriate. Using interactive online resources gives the user more control over how and when they learn. The best software providers not only offer online tutorials but also set up user groups where practitioners can share ideas and help each other with technical issues.

in GCSE classes using Guitar Pro a software-based multi-track tablature editor/player. There is also an informal apprenticeship scheme where the older pupils who run the sound and lighting equipment for all the schools productions and shows pass on their skills to younger pupils, who will eventually take over from them.

Choosing the Right Support There are clearly a range of choices practitioners can make when deciding on the most appropriate support for their particular needs. A good starting point would be for a practitioner to conduct an audit of their requirements and research what support is currently available in the region. This could lead to a personal action plan for Continuing Professional Development.

Pupil mentors were good role models for participants and provided excellent support for the work of main staff

Queen Elizabeths Mercian School in Tamworth has a mentoring musicians scheme. Year 12 and 13 pupils, who have developed expertise in the use of ICT, use some of their free time to support work in younger classes using Cubase. Additionally, sixth formers work with some of the non-notation readers
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Lewishams ICT Training for Teachers website (http://ecs.lewisham.gov.uk/talent/secmus/ TaLENT_MU1.htm) contains a section which provides a step-by-step approach to this process. The purpose of this module is to help teachers assess what their own current level of expertise is with using ICT and to develop a plan for how they and their department could develop the use of ICT. Teachers are provided with guidance on: Completing an audit of personal ICT skills; Completing an audit of departmental ICT resources; Defining a rationale for using ICT in their own school context.

Papert, S, Child Power: Keys to the New Learning of the Digital Century, 1998, available at www.papert.org/articles/Childpower
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Mason, K et al, Study Support Summer School Pilots, NFER 2000.

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SECTION TWO:

Another Time, Another Place School timetables, and the way that pupils are grouped into rooms, were designed to enable a large number of students to be put through an educational process using limited time and space. The teacher delivers the content and the students are required to absorb this information simultaneously a one size fits all model.

storage/retrieval issues. Opportunities for accessing these resources out of curriculum time are limited, often because of perceived security problems. This type of environment also creates problems for the assessment of practical work, again because of the way the space is used. What do you do with the other 29 students while you are trying to assess one students performance?

Changing the way that time and space are used in schools opens up new possibilities for transforming how and when teaching and learning takes place. ICT gives us opportunities for podcast lectures, blogging and wikis, online forums, anytime-anywhere access to digital learning resources and learning tasks which are structured online.

Unfortunately, few schools are able to adequately provide for such situations. The music room is traditionally a teacher-led environment (teacher and resources at the front, students facing the teacher). Moving to individual or group/pair work can be time consuming because of resource
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Regardless of how much or how little use a teacher makes of ICT and music technology, there is a set of fundamental priorities for effective music departments: Practical music making - in order to gain a real understanding of music, students need to create and play it; Space to allow practical music making to happen - good-sized, uncluttered classrooms to enable flexibility to move between teacher-led sessions, class participation in discussion, individual and group music making; Breakout spaces - where students can work free from distraction and intervention; Departmental resources that are available out of curriculum time - including extracurricula opportunities, students working on extended tasks, and access by the wider community.

Many of these problems can be solved by effective and judicious use of ICT. An ICT enriched space offers the opportunity for: 1. Integrating resources. Using standard presentation software, teachers can now gather all the resources required for a lesson in one place. Text, pictures /diagrams, video clips, audio clips and web links can all be triggered from a single screen at the click of a button. 2. Mobility and student participation. Using a wireless tablet, keyboard or mouse or an interactive whiteboard can have a profound effect on classroom dynamics. The teacher can move freely around the classroom and continue to present a lesson and encourage students to engage interactively. 3. Using Internet/Intranet. This can significantly add to the range of resources available for use in the classroom and out of school hours and gives students constant access to store and retrieve work, and communicate or collaborate online. 4. Increasing range of software. New applications for music are constantly developed, including many open source and freeware/shareware applications. Recent improvements in software design mean that they are often more stable, more intuitive and run more efficiently. 5. Capturing students work. For example, through digital formats including text, audio and video. This can occur relatively easily during a lesson with minimum disruption, which in turn can make for easier and more accurate assessment and reporting.
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Changing the way that time and space are used in schools opens up new possibilities for transforming how and when teaching and learning takes place

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6. Using other technology hardware in

The vision of new approaches assumes the willing cooperation of students, who may be moving from a highly-structured educational process to a system of increasing flexibility in where, when and how they work. They will also be expected to take on more responsibility for their work and such transition may need to be handled sensitively.

conjunction with computers. This is now relatively straightforward with USB and fire-wire ports. For instance, MIDI keyboards, controllers and audio interfaces can easily be linked to computers for use in performance and recording.

SECTION THREE:

As an example, let us consider the current debate regarding interactive whiteboards and wireless technologies. Are these tools designed for the benefit of teachers or for students? The best technologies, of course, should aid both teaching and learning. Some teachers use a tablet and projector and prefer this to an interactive whiteboard, as do many pupils. For teachers, the classroom dynamics of being at the level of their students and facing into the group rather than turning their back on them are big advantages. Also, for many teachers and students, it is easier to work at normal scale, with something that feels like a normal pen, rather than on a large board. Older pupils are often reluctant to go to the front of the class to operate a whiteboard (into what they perceive as the teachers space). It therefore makes sense wherever possible to consult students during the design and implementation stages of new technologies before they are firmly installed in the classroom.

Even though many students have computers at home, we often make things harder for them by choosing to work with expensive music software packages in the classroom which students simply cannot afford for home use. There are some instances of software companies offering extended site licences so that students can use the software at home, but these are few and far between. Many teachers are starting to use freeware /shareware and open-source applications in their teaching. Audacity9 is one such example of free, open-source software for recording and editing sounds. It is stable, easy to learn and is now widely used in schools.

Bring It On Home To Me In many curriculum subject areas, students have continuous access to the resources they need. In mathematics, most pupils will have a maths textbook and a calculator, so that they can work on their maths whenever they choose. In music, however, students frequently have little access outside the 50-60 minutes of their weekly curriculum music lesson. Students taking instrumental lessons are more fortunate. They often have an instrument they can take home to practise on, and most extra-curricular provision is geared to their needs. This gives instrumental players a significant advantage over the rest of the class: they have developed the habit of working at home because they have the necessary equipment. Imagine trying to learn to play the flute if the instrument were only available for one lesson per week and was completely inaccessible during holiday times.

The best technologies should aid both teaching and learning

The most popular shareware search engine for musicians is probably http://www.hitsquad.com/smm/. Hundreds of shareware/freeware/demo products are organised into categories which include audio sequencers, midi sequencers, vst plugins, software samplers and synthesisers.

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

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Schools are already starting to explore homeschool access via intranet sites and mobile technologies.11 This is especially significant for music educators as it allows them to tap into the vast amount of music making that goes on outside school, as well as helping to address some of the current issues regarding music homework. We now have the opportunity to extend music study into the home provided we tap into the culture, content and means of production of the young people. For instance, at The Queen Katherine School in Kendal, students are shown how to download free loop sequencer software and royalty free samples from the Internet and are provided with tutorial material demonstrating basic sound-editing procedures. They are encouraged to email their work to and from school and some work independently on producing high quality remixes for use with dance groups in and beyond the school. 8
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Students in Nottingham, working with the Musical Futures Whole Curriculum Approach, create their own home pages on the website10 and go on to compose and upload dance music tracks using the freeware Acid Xpress. Many students download this freely-available software onto their home computers so that they can continue working on their projects outside the classroom. NUMU10 offers the opportunity for students and schools to publish in a dedicated safe space, where they can showcase their music, meet others and learn new skills.

Some companies produce entry level versions of their commercial professional software. These are often stripped down but fully functional versions of the full product and are usually freely downloadable from the producers website. For instance, Sony distributes a free version of their loop based music production tool, Acid, on www.acidplanet.com.

Music departments that have managed to get their computers online are beginning to reap the benefits. Some music departments use the Internet for researching musical topics and for accessing additional resources from external providers. Linking up to the schools database or intranet can be of significant help in storing, assessing and reporting on students work. There are further opportunities that can be exploited. Students can use the Internet to collaborate and reflect on the work of their peers. In the Musical Futures Leeds Bits and Pieces project12, young musicians were engaged in online collaborations, extending and remixing the music produced by their friends. The results are published uploaded to a virtual performance space on websites such as dbass and myspace. Some schools are working towards providing wireless access, meaning that students will be able to continue working on school projects from any location in their region.

Six schools in Kent are taking part in a LEA pilot scheme to supply 1,400 tablet PCs within a county-wide wireless network. Hugh Christie Technology College in Tonbridge, Kent, has been turned into a wireless internet zone, and an entire year group has been treated to their own tablet PCs. Students take the Internet with them into each lesson and when they have finished, they send their work across the network to their personal folder on the server. When they get home, they can access their work where they left off using a broadband connection supplied by the council. (From Shaping the Future of Learning in Kent www.clusterweb.org.uk/home.cfm) Teachers may also wish to work with mobile technologies that students commonly use already, for example mobile phones and MP3 players. A USB pen/MP3 player combination is especially useful as it can allow a wide range
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They are encouraged to email their work to and from school and some work independently on producing some high quality remixes for use with dance groups in and beyond school

10 www.numu.org.uk The following school intranets are examples of schools giving students home access: www.hitchams.suffolk.sch.uk/ictmusic/ drums/index www.callingtonmusic.co.uk 12 www.musicalfutures.org 11

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of digital data to be easily transported from one location to another. However, students are often banned from bringing these mobile devices into schools. We need to find ways of allowing them to be deployed in the classroom as they have a potential impact for the students independent, personalised learning. Students have been shown to develop a strong sense of ownership and learning autonomy with their mobile phones and MP3 players and are prepared to invest considerable time in learning to use them. Case Study#2: Mobile Technology At Monks Walk School, one of the Musical Futures schools in Hertfordshire, mobile phones and MP3 players were banned. Teachers had been told to immediately confiscate all phones and MP3 players until a parent collected them from the office.

Mobile resources are also being used effectively in Sonic Postcards - an innovative project that aims to explore and compare the local sound environments of young people across the UK. Students record sounds in their locality, and then experiment with creating soundscapes through the interaction of these sounds with technology. The results are uploaded on the national website (www.sonicpostcards.org). These are just some of the ways in which schools are encouraging young people to explore music through ICT outside the classroom in structured, creative and meaningful ways.

However, as part of the Hertfordshire Musical Futures model, students were asked to bring their own music into the classroom, and they would often ask to bring their MP3 players instead of CDs.

We need to find ways of allowing mobile devices to be deployed in the classroom

Anna Gower, head of music, has therefore allowed students to bring MP3 players to the music lessons; Anna feels that this technology has become an integral part of the informal learning work that is occurring in her school, and has challenged the school rules in order to accommodate this. I have walked into practice rooms to find students with phones out and have been about to challenge them, only to be told they are recording their pieces to play to their mum, or videoing their performances. Students can now download their pieces onto MP3, blue tooth from my laptop to their phones and download other student's work from the Musical Futures website.

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SECTION FOUR:

Come Together In this section, we consider the potential for using computer-generated music alongside conventional instruments and in working across different artforms.

Music technology is taught separately from music in many schools. There may have been good reasons for this in the past - usually concerning problems of a technical nature, resource issues and so on. Because of this, technology has often been isolated from the mainstream music curriculum, and used in discrete music technology modules, or as a tool to aid composition and theory/aural training. Much music produced in this way rarely sees the light of day it sits on the computer hard drive or is burned on to a disk to send off to an examining board. However, hardware, software and operating systems have improved significantly and exciting musical opportunities are being missed. It is time to bring music and technology back together.

Using a laptop running a piece of software called AudioMulch and a USB MIDI controller (in this case Evolutions X-Session), they created an instrument that gives the user control over elements of pitch, duration, dynamics and timbre. The laptop musician sits with the rest of the ensemble and responds to the visual and audio cues that arise in ensemble performance. They used independent amplification, located close to where they were performing, so that the player became associated with the sounds they were generating. Balancing the sound was done by ensuring that students listened to each other and worked together, so that the technical musician develops the same listening and ensemble skills as their acoustic peers. Using computers in live performance provides students working with music technology with the same ensemble and performing skills as other musicians in their schools. Like any musical instrument, the computer has its own strengths and weaknesses, but it is important to acknowledge these and work within its capabilities. This approach inevitably leads to refreshing new instrumental combinations, where students can experiment with new textures and timbres. It is genuinely creative, because the music usually has to be devised and improvised. This in turn helps our students to become more fully-rounded musicians, developing the essential skills required in much contemporary music making.

Using computers in live performance provides students working with music technology with the same ensemble and performing skills as other musicians in their schools

It is not only the technology that has improved. Technicians in schools are starting to get a clearer idea of their music departments computer-system requirements, enabling more teachers to explore the use of computers as an integrated part of their subject provision. The most significant impact of this changing picture is an increase in the use of ICT in live performance. Case study#3: Technology in Performance At a recent Specialist Schools Arts Conference, a group of young musicians from Pimlico School demonstrated how elements of music technology could be incorporated into an acoustic performance. They did this by using real-time sound processing and working with a laptop computer as a musical instrument. The musicians using the technology were playing alongside a guitarist, percussionist, saxophonist and a keyboard player. 10
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Music is usually taught as a discrete subject in the curriculum, yet outside school it rarely stands in this isolation. For example, contemporary music is often presented in a multimedia context combined with elements of dance or video. In other historical contexts and cultures, music is inextricably linked with elements of dance, drama or ritual. To make music education relevant to a wide range of contexts in which young people encounter music outside school, many of which are multimedia, some traditional subject barriers may need to be broken down.
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There have always been opportunities for working with music in cross-curricular ways, and music produced digitally significantly increases the range of possibilities. Three areas which particularly suggest themselves are dance, visual art and mathematics.

Dance Many dance groups in schools and the wider community work with electronically generated music which has repetitive rhythms and a strong beat. Dance students could explore using original music produced by their peers working with loop-based software. Soundbeam13 is a device that sends out an ultrasonic beam which the user projects across the performing space. When students generate any sort of movement within this space, the interruptions are captured by the device and converted into MIDI data which can control music, video or lighting changes. Technology such as Soundbeam allows for live synchronisation of movement and music, and has great potential for performing arts departments.

of prime numbers and patterns based on the Fibonacci series. A software programme (Music Generator) was used to translate some of this mathematical data into musical fragments or motifs for use as building blocks in the final composition. Various software applications were used for developing and arranging the musical materials generated in this way. Sections of the paintings were scanned and animated using Microsoft Photo Story and these video projections served as a backdrop for the performance. These projections also functioned as a graphic score, providing a series of cues for those musicians performing live.

CONCLUSION

The best ICT generates motivation and engagement, ensures impersonal feedback, provides scope for peer collaboration and co-designing of learning and teaching with staff.14

Mathematics Manor School in York recently did a composition and performance project involving elements of art, mathematics and music. Guided by their teacher, students analysed the works of St Ives painter John Wells and discovered that there was a mathematical basis underlying the structure of many of his paintings. This involved the use
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Visual Art Many schools have art and design departments that are capable of creating highly sophisticated digitally-produced work. This includes: processing still images and video animations; using live performance to accompany a sequence of projected still images; making digitally recorded soundtracks which can be edited and processed in the latest sequencing software; and vjaying where the performer triggers video clips to pre-recorded sound samples.

Young people have always had the capacity to produce original and exhilarating music in the right conditions. For todays young people, ICT and music technologies can help provide stimulating learning environments that enable and encourage students to produce work of a very high standard. ICT hardware is cheaper and more powerful than ever before and the range of music software increases steadily. This equipment is being used effectively across a wide range of genres and there are countless examples of exciting, original contemporary music which can be used as examples in teaching. Many external music providers who have a tradition of working with music technology, are beginning to make significant impact in terms of their contribution to teaching and learning in schools. This work is being encouraged and to some extent co-ordinated by the Music Manifesto who expect to see:

There have always been opportunities for working with music in cross-curricular ways, and music produced digitally significantly increases the range of possibilities

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13 www.soundbeam.co.uk Hargreaves, D, Personalising Learning-3, 2005.

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Schools, Music services, Youth Music Action Zones, community and youth music organisations, the music and creative industries and others working effectively together to meet many more young peoples needs and helping them fulfil their aspirations.15 Some of our best music teachers are already using ICT to create truly inspiring learning experiences for their students. For example, schools are using ICT and music to: Encourage boys singing (Northampton Academy); Encourage independent working (Archbishop Michael Ramsey School); Use visual representation to support aural understanding (Charles Darwin School); Facilitate effective differentiation of learning tasks (Djanogly School); Reinforce and consolidate a traditional music activity (Holy Cross Catholic High School); Support students with limited notation reading skills to engage with music at a higher level (Bluecoats School); Bring a range of resources together in engaging multimedia lesson presentations (Alcester High School).

Organisations such as the National Association of Music Educators and the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust are working hard to help disseminate case studies of best practice via their websites and events. But ICT also presents challenges for teachers. With the introduction of music technology, teachers are required to work across a much broader musical spectrum, often with students who may have a greater understanding of ICT in contemporary music than they do.

ICT in music presents us with exciting opportunities to significantly improve the teaching and learning of music in schools, and to make music more accessible for students. As ICT becomes more pervasive in education, we must acknowledge that the role for music teachers is still a vital component in this changing world. They will continue to have a crucial part to play in nurturing musicianship and creativity in their students and they will use ICT to help them achieve this.

We conclude with three suggestions for teachers who wish to become more ICT aware: 1. Become co-researchers with their students. Learning about ICT in music together may encourage a sense of equality and a dialogue constructive for learning. Teachers could consider involving their students in curriculum planning and development and to listen to and act on their suggestions and ideas. 2. Explore examples of best practice, such as those given in this pamphlet. 3. Investigate software used by musicians. Most software can be obtained on a trial basis, either from magazines or websites. The best software allows and encourages the user to explore and create for themselves without being guided down one of a number of limited paths. New software/hardware applications which move well beyond the usual notation /sequencer packages found in schools need to be investigated.

As ICT becomes more pervasive in education, we must acknowledge that the role for music teachers is still a vital component in this changing world

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Music Manifesto Report#2, Department for Education and Skills, 2006.

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REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING

DELANEY, M, Laptop Music: Create, Record, Perform or Just Listen to Music on Your Laptop Computer, PC Publishing (2004) HARGREAVES, D, Personalising Learning 3 Specialist Schools Trust (2005) KELLY, O, Digital Creativity Gulbenkian (1996)

COLLYER, A, Club Dance Remix Published in Music Teacher, www.rhinegold.co.uk (March 2004)

BROWN, R and GRIESE, M, Electronica Dance Music Programming Secrets Prentice Hall (2000)

Recommended software Ableton Live www.ableton.com Acid Xpress www.acidplanet.com Audacity http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ A Music Generator www.musoft-builders.com/ Audiomulch www.audiomulch.com Hyperscore www.hyperscore.com Reason www.propellerheads.se Van Basco www.vanbasco.com Recommended listening Aphex Twin Selected Ambient Works vol II (WARP) Boards of Canada Music Has the Right to Children (WARP) Brian Eno Apollo (EG) Fat Boy Slim Youve Come a Long Way Baby (Skint) FSOL Lifeforms (Virgin) Jah Wobble Rising Above Bedlam (OVAL) Kraftwerk Trans Europe Express (Capitol) Moby Play (CDStumm) Orbital Work 1989(- 2002 Warner) Various Pump Up the Volume (Channel 4) Faithless Reverence/Irreverence (Mushroom) The Streets A Grand Dont Come for Free (Atlantic) Smith Quartet Stephen Montague Quartet no 1 (Continuum) Sheila Chandra Monsoon (Mercury)

MASON, K, BHABRA, S and REES, F, Study Support Summer School Pilots, National Foundation for Educational Research (2000) PAPERT, S, Child Power: Keys to the New Learning of the Digital Century available at www.papert.org/articles/Childpower PROCHAK, T, How to Remix Sanctuary Publishing (2001) A Curriculum for the Future: Subjects Consider the Challenge, Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (2005) TOOP, D, Ocean of Sound Serpents Tail (2001) Music in Secondary Schools OFSTED, HMI 2328 (2005)

SAVAGE, J, Teaching Music with ICT in Finney, J. and Burnard, P (eds), Teaching Music in the Digital Age London, Continuum (Forthcoming)

Biography David Ashworth is a freelance education consultant, specialising in music technology. He is the Lead Consultant on Music and ICT for the National Association of Music Educators. Other recent work has included an online learning consultancy for Musical Futures; advisory work for QCA, BBC Jam, Sonic Arts Network and Teachers TV and CPD design and delivery for the Specialist School and Academies Trust and many LEAs and Music Services. He is currently leading a number of projects in the North West of England and elsewhere on the use of ICT in live performance. He also teaches music part time at The Queen Katherine School, Kendal.
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Musical Futures c/o The Paul Hamlyn Foundation 18 Queen Annes Gate, London SW1H 9AA www.musicalfutures.org.uk www.phf.org.uk